Wartune: More than Just a Web Game

Proficient City’s Isaac Lee answers questions about the upcoming Wartune novel, the ongoing Indiegogo campaign to raise funds, and their many efforts to raise awareness for the world’s most popular browser RPG.

Asia-based Proficient City announced recently that it will publish a novel based on the popular web-gameWartune. The plan garnered a significant amount of attention on the games social media, with many players showing interest in the upcoming novel. Isaac Lee, Wartune’s head of operations, answered a few questions on the novel.

Q: Wartune has had a lot of success as a video game, but why have you decided to publish a novel?

A: We have always wanted to show players that Wartune is more than just a game. The developers have put a lot of effort into the story behind the game, but only a few of the more veteran players are familiar with it. There’s been a lot of interest from some players about being more involved with the game, lots of players submit their artwork, and a bunch wrote stories for an event we had to celebrate the 3rd anniversary. All of this effort was extremely touching, so we wanted to give back. Three years is a long time in this business, and it’s all thanks to the players.

Q: How did you choose the author?

A: There’s a lot of story that comes with Wartune, so we needed someone who could pick some of the best bits and make it into something cohesive, while still maintaining Wartune’s atmosphere. We also wanted someone who was open to working with us to write the novel, so that we could proceed with our vision as well.

Chioma Osifo is who we eventually found. She used to be a teacher and was inspired by the famous British best-selling writer David Gemmell. She has a lot of imagination and pitched some great ideas, so we’re excited to work with her.

Q: Why did you decide to use crowd-funding?

A: Wartune’s got a bit variety in players, and each of them loves Wartune in their own way. Some of them just want to play the game, while others devote time and money into Wartune, and want to more than just the game itself. And of course there’s a whole slew of players in between. We decided to use crowd-funding because it gives players more choices on how to enjoy the novel. They can spend some money, or they can participate in some of the contests and still have the chance to win.

Q: This is your first time you doing crowd-funding, isn’t it? How has it been?

A: You’re right, this is our first time. We stole ideas from a bunch of our other projects, but it’s still been kind of crazy. The Indiegogo Strategists have been a great help. There’s a lot of game-related campaigns, so the big thing is trying to separate ourselves from the crowd. We’ve also talked to a few people who ran some successful campaigns, and they’ve been helpful. Guy Windsor, who running his own campaign, ‘Guy’s NEW, ADVANCED, Longsword Book!’ was super helpful with the campaign page. Thanks to all these people the campaign is running a lot smoother than it might have.

Proficient City is a subsidiary of Game Hollywood. It has published over 20 games including Wartune, DDTank Mobile, and Eternal Fury. It has been publishing games since 2008, has offices in Asia and Spain, and will soon be opening a branch in North America.